True, but NA major leage sports are somewhat unique in that they have both regular and post-season winners. There's nothing comparable on the world sport stage. Tennis, cricket, F1, boxing, football/soccer, rugby ... out of those only tennis is remotely similar in that there are grand-slam winners and then the #1 ranked player, with similar jeers for the latter who hasn't won any of the former, Wozniacki and Safina being examples of this.

So hockey isn't really that unique when compared with other sports with similar trophies ... it just so happens that those are NA sports.[/quote]

The major difference is sport franchises are bought in NA...it's business first and fore most. You cannot buy a Premiership team as a expansion franchise. Soccer like it or not is THE bench mark for sports...nothing comes close. The teams are old and started a long time ago, have PROMOTION & DEMOITION. which makes league standing extremely important. The bread and butter is still the league play for NA sports...if it's so unimportant why the hell do we bother going to the games Soccer by the way all have Cup play in addition to league play ie the FA Cup

My defense of the value of the Presidents Trophy is that none of the other sports take nearly the same physical toll that hockey does during the regular season. The NFL comes very close, and the injuries are usually more long-term, but they only play 16 games. MLS players would have you believe that soccer exacts a serious physical price, but we all know better. The NBA and MLB are nearly as strenuous as the PGA tour.

The NHL demands 82 games, sometimes back-to-back, and those games are unmatched in speed, second only to the NFL in physicality, and demand a combination of all the talents required to succeed in the other sports. Did I mention they have to use all those talents at high speed while balancing on a pair of thin metal blades?

The other sports don't celebrate the regular season champion because they haven't come near to paying the same price that the number one regular season team in the NHL does.

That ALL being said, if it isn't the Cup, it just isn't the Cup.

Gillis can't simply scrub this team, it is too deep and too talented. However, I'm not convinced that even throwing a Zach Parise and Shea Weber on this team while only losing Luongo, Raymond, and one of our current defensemen, would put this team in the winners category. Not with the current coach. Darryl Sutter has taken two teams deep into the playoffs in the last 7 seasons, teams that barely made the playoffs. He did it by coaching playoff hockey, strong, responsible defense, in front of a very good goaltender, and playing physical, bruising, and SIMPLE, offense. Fill the lanes, support the puck, go to the net. He really isn't all that great of a coach when you look at the regular season numbers, but he knows how to get results in the playoffs when he has time to setup his team for a particular opponent. He knows shutdown hockey, and he knows how to get players to buy-in, execute HIS gameplan, and work their asses off. Gillis needs to get a coach who can do this.

Fred wrote:True, but NA major leage sports are somewhat unique in that they have both regular and post-season winners.

I'll ask again.

What sport?

The NFL, NBA and MLB do what for their regular season winners?

Who even are these entities?

They all have trophies or pennants or whatever, but the fact that I'd have to go look them up is just more proof of how meaningless they are. I do love the football model, with promotion/demotion, qualification for Champions League, Europa League, etc. It makes the bottom of the table so much more interesting towards the end of the season, whereas all we have is debate over whether a team is tanking it in order to improve their chances of a better draft position.

Well, there is far more significance in baseball on winning divisions and League Championship. But there only a handful of teams make the playoffs to begin with so the importance is greater. In the NHL with 16 teams making the dance and anything can happen hockey winning the PT or the conference or the division only matters for playoff seeding and home ice.

But back to back PT is nothing to sneeze at. Yes, the holly grail is the cup and anything short puts us in Buffalo Bill territory. This year we backed in by having an amazing winning streak to end the season. Both St. Louis and NYR tanked down the stretch. So we earned it but had luck on our side. Last year was thrilling because we were simply the best for most of the year and statistically we held our own in most categories.

I'm proud of the accomplishment but not satisfied yet that we don't have the cup.

Meds wrote:My defense of the value of the Presidents Trophy is that none of the other sports take nearly the same physical toll that hockey does during the regular season. The NFL comes very close, and the injuries are usually more long-term, but they only play 16 games. MLS players would have you believe that soccer exacts a serious physical price, but we all know better. The NBA and MLB are nearly as strenuous as the PGA tour.

The NHL demands 82 games, sometimes back-to-back, and those games are unmatched in speed, second only to the NFL in physicality, and demand a combination of all the talents required to succeed in the other sports. Did I mention they have to use all those talents at high speed while balancing on a pair of thin metal blades?

The other sports don't celebrate the regular season champion because they haven't come near to paying the same price that the number one regular season team in the NHL does.

That ALL being said, if it isn't the Cup, it just isn't the Cup.

Gillis can't simply scrub this team, it is too deep and too talented. However, I'm not convinced that even throwing a Zach Parise and Shea Weber on this team while only losing Luongo, Raymond, and one of our current defensemen, would put this team in the winners category. Not with the current coach. Darryl Sutter has taken two teams deep into the playoffs in the last 7 seasons, teams that barely made the playoffs. He did it by coaching playoff hockey, strong, responsible defense, in front of a very good goaltender, and playing physical, bruising, and SIMPLE, offense. Fill the lanes, support the puck, go to the net. He really isn't all that great of a coach when you look at the regular season numbers, but he knows how to get results in the playoffs when he has time to setup his team for a particular opponent. He knows shutdown hockey, and he knows how to get players to buy-in, execute HIS gameplan, and work their asses off. Gillis needs to get a coach who can do this.

No offense Meds, but this post of yours came across as one big pile of stinky cow dung. I think I disagreed on every point you made "too deep and too talented"? What fucking team are you watching, cause it ain't the same one as me. After a few certain players, there is a serious drop off in talent.

"I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? - Plastics." - The Graduate